A Guide for Flexibility: Everything you Need to Know to Get Bendy

Do you ever have trouble reaching behind your car seat because of limited shoulder mobility? Do your tight hips get in the way of being able to get into a deep squat or try new physical activities?

Flexibility is something that impacts every part of our lives.

Without it, you face many restrictions in your day-to-day life, as well as in your training. But when you improve your mobility, you gain freedom of movement, which opens up so many more activities to you.

In this guide, we’ve put together our best flexibility articles and tutorials, to help you move with ease so you’re free to live the life you want.

Stretching Theory

Stretching is one of those things that seems like it should be pretty simple–just get into a position and hold.

But in reality, there’s quite a bit of controversy and confusion surrounding stretching and flexibility.

We’ve written a variety of articles on different aspects of mobility and flexibility. You’ve probably seen a lot of conflicting information out there, so the following articles will be helpful in navigating this sometimes confusing aspect of training.

Everything You Need to Know About Stretching

If you’ve heard lots of different opinions on stretching, you’ve probably come across quite a bit of misinformation too. This article addresses some common myths about stretching, and we address the most frequent questions we’ve received about flexibility work.

Get Flexible Fast

This is our most popular article to date, and for good reason. People who struggle with flexibility want to get past their restrictions as quickly as possible. In this article, we’ve broken the process down into four steps that will help you get relatively quick results without hurting yourself.

Review of Popular Stretching Methods

Because there are so many stretching approaches on the market now, we put together this comprehensive review of the most popular methods. If you’re wondering about how PNF compares to ballistic stretching, or anything in between, this is a useful read. Plus it will help you figure out which method best matches your goals.

Stretching Tips for the Super Stiff

What about when someone’s super stiff? If that’s you, typical stretching routines may feel intimidating or out-of-reach. This article goes through six tips that will help even the stiffest people get a lot of benefit from a smart stretching routine.

How We Teach Flexibility to Naturally Inflexible People

Following a similar theme as the previous article, this article comes from our Lead Trainer Kirsty Grosart, who shares how she teaches flexibility work to naturally inflexible people. Seeing things from a coach’s perspective can be very helpful in learning how to approach your training.

Routines and Tutorials

Once you understand some of the theories behind stretching and you have a good sense of the approaches that will best fit your needs, the next step, of course, is to put things into action.

We’ve put together routines and tutorials for some of the most common flexibility concerns that people have shared with us over the years. Some of these tutorials are geared toward rather specific goals but you can pick and choose what speaks to you.

Hip Mobility

This 8-step routine is designed to be done daily until you start feeling some relief. It’s a quick and simple routine that packs a big punch, so if you have tight hips, it’s definitely worth giving this a try–it’s helped a lot of people.

Hamstring Flexibility

Tight hamstrings is an extremely common complaint we hear. This article does have some exercise recommendations, but more importantly, it’ll give you some key tips for being successful with improving your hamstring flexibility.

Back Stretches

CrossFit Mobility

Although this article is geared toward CrossFit athletes, the principles of how to assess and address mobility apply to anyone with limited flexibility. If you find yourself restricted by certain movements in your training, this article is worth a read.

Splits Tutorial

The splits are definitely a more advanced flexibility goal, but if you are at a level of mobility where you’re ready to work toward the splits, this tutorial gives you step-by-step instructions to get there.

Case Studies

Since releasing Focused Flexibility in 2012, we’ve worked with around 12,000 clients on improving their mobility. We’ve had great success with helping thousands of people free their bodies so they’re not held back by restrictions.

The following are just a couple of examples of some of the incredible results our clients have gotten through using our methods.

How Charlie Used Flexibility Training to Stay Young and Agile

Charlie was in his 60s when he decided to work on his flexibility. After retiring from a physically demanding career as a cabinetmaker, he had a lot of aches and restrictions. After one year of flexibility practice, he got near-perfect splits and freed up his body.

Jonathan’s Flexibility Transformation

Jonathan is a longtime client of ours, and when he started addressing his flexibility, he was stiff as a board and didn’t think he’d be able to improve that much. But he kept at it, and this overview shows his incredible progress over 10 months.